Statement from Attorney General James on Supreme Court Decision that Maintains Access to Mifepristone

New York – New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued a statement after the United States Supreme Court announced a decision in U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, reversing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision that would have sharply limited access to mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medication abortions, nationwide:

“This ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court marks a significant victory in protecting the reproductive rights of Americans and ensuring that science is the guiding light for medical decisions and rulemaking. I am very proud of the work my office did, together with our coalition partners, to make sound, legal arguments to support the FDA and its commonsense, fact-based rules about how to access mifepristone. While we may be celebrating today, we also know that anti-choice forces will not stop trying to eliminate bodily autonomy and the right to privacy for millions of Americans. Abortion care is health care, and regardless of what happens on a national level, my office will always do everything in our power to protect and safeguard these rights for New Yorkers.”  

Attorney General James led a coalition of 24 attorneys general in urging the Supreme Court to reverse the Fifth Circuit’s decision to restrict how mifepristone can be prescribed and dispensed. Attorney General James and the coalition submitted an amicus brief which highlighted that the Fifth Circuit’s decision ignored decades of high-quality evidence and clinical research that shows mifepristone is safe and effective. The coalition also pointed out that the FDA’s decisions in 2016 to approve a modified label and reform the conditions for prescribing mifepristone were supported by robust safety data and decades of clinical experience. Attorney General James and the coalition also expressed concern that the lower court's decision could lead many individuals to undergo procedural abortion, drive up risks, costs, and delays, create widespread confusion among providers, distributors, and pharmacies, and stifle innovation and the development and availability of thousands of drugs nationwide.

Attorney General James has served as a national leader in the fight to protect abortion rights and access to reproductive healthcare. In May 2024, she filed a law suit against an anti-abortion group and 11 crisis pregnancy centers for promoting scientifically unfounded abortion reversal treatments. In April 2024, Attorney General James led a coalition of attorneys general from across the country in calling on Congress to expand IVF access. In March 2024, Attorney General James led a coalition of 24 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief calling on the courts to uphold access to emergency abortion access. In January 2024, Attorney General James and a coalition of 19 attorneys general drafted an amicus brief seeking to protect patients against Idaho’s extreme laws that threatened both those seeking abortion care and anyone who helped them. In December 2023, Attorney General James secured a court order to stop militant anti-abortion group Red Rose Rescue from blocking access to abortion care in New York.